Looking at reviews for a restaurant or choosing a hotel makes sense, but stars don’t tell the full story for property management companies.
Property managers deal with two different types of customers; landlords and tenants. Property managers have a fiduciary relationship with the landlords meaning they have a duty to protect the interests of the landlords. Ironically, property managers receive bad reviews from tenants because they try to enforce and act in the interest of the landlords.
“Read the complete review, but know it’s something you can’t take at face value.”
Property managers would not have any negative reviews if they always did what a tenant or prospective applicant requested. However, this would result in poorly managed properties. You want a property manager who is fair to tenants but also one who actually carries out his or her duties and looks after your interests and who is willing to enforce the rental agreements or deny a bad applicant as part of a thorough and diligent screening process. Their job is to find the best possible tenants for a property and to ensure those tenants are in compliance with the rental agreement that was signed.
Tenants will complain in these reviews about their applications being denied in these reviews. More often than not, this means that the property manager is actually doing a thorough and responsible job on behalf of the landlord. Read the complete review, but know it’s something you can’t take at face value. That company might simply be doing its job and doing it well at that.
